Depart and prepare for ill!" II.

Cast into the deepest affliction by this response, the Athenians yet, with the garb and symbols of suppliants, renewed their application.

"Answer us," they said, "oh supreme God, answer us more propitiously, or we will not depart from your sanctuary, but remain here even until death." The second answer seemed less severe than the first: "Minerva is unable to appease the Olympian Jupiter.

Again, therefore, I speak, and my words are as adamant.

All else within the bounds of Cecropia and the bosom of the divine Cithaeron shall fall and fail you.